Date Night
by knacc
Summary: After two month together, Zac and Riven go on a lovely date that doesn't end like they expected.


Riven shifts her weight back and forth from foot to foot as she stares down her opponent, her arms up and ready to strike at any moment. Then in the blink of an eye, she lashes out with a right hook, the contact shaking the dummy to the point it almost falls over. Riven sighs. She was hoping to get some good training in today but with no one around to spar with, she's resigned herself to just practicing her form on the test dummies.

She's just about to start another barrage when behind her she hears, "Hey, I thought I'd find you here."

Riven turns around to see Zac, ducked down so he can see through the doorframe and smiling at her like she's the best thing ever. She's smiling back without even thinking about it when a realization hits her, making her smile falter. "Shit sorry, am I running late for our date?"

"Nah," Zac says, shrinking slightly so as to fit through the door before returning to his normal size and shaking his head, "I'm actually here a bit early so don't worry about it."

Riven lets out a little sigh and smiles. "Oh good, in that case I'll just get ready so we can get goin-" she stops part of the way through grabbing her bag and turns back to look at him, "Actually, would you mind helping me with something first?"

"Sure," Zac nods, "what is it?"

"Do you think we could we spar for a bit? I was hoping to get a good workout in today but dummies don't make the best partners. You on the other hand-"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Zac cuts her off, shaking his head as he looks down at her.

Riven rolls her eyes. "I'm not going to use the runeblade, promise, it's not even here."

"That's not what I meant," he pauses for a moment then shrugs, "but if you really want a sparring partner, we can try."

Riven nods, shifting back into a combat pose, her knees bent and her arms at the ready.

Zac mirrors the pose, though the distinct height difference between the two makes his a bit more intimidating. "Tell me when you're ready."

"Go," she says. In an instant, he's on her and she's surrounded, her arms and legs bound by him. Under normal circumstances, the idea of being held firmly by his warm, strong arms would probably make her heart rate spike up but since right now he's basically got her tied up in his limbs like some sort of impromptu rope, she mostly feels trapped. She wiggles in his hold, tries to move or to break free but he only tightens her bonds.

"This is what I was talking about," Zac says from somewhere above her head. "You're a skilled swordsman and you're strong but I have a bit of an advantage when it comes to hand to hand."

"This isn't hand to hand," she says, finally getting enough control to rock them both backwards and into the ground.

He lets out an "ooph" but doesn't let her go. A moment later, he's flipped them over so she has her cheek on the mat, her arms and legs still surrounded on all sides by Zac. "It isn't? This is how I generally do it," he chuckles.

"This is not fair sparring," Riven says, struggling against his hold to no avail.

"I'm just doing what comes naturally," he says back and Riven can't see his face but she can hear the smile.

"Okay," she says after a few more attempts at gaining control, "I surrender."

In an instant, Zac lets go and then he's standing over her, offering an unnecessary hand up. She shakes her head at him but takes it anyway. The moment she's on her feet, she snaps her body into a combat pose and meets his eyes with a serious expression. "Again, but no grappling this time."

"Sorry, guess that didn't end up working like you had hoped it would," Zac smiles sheepishy, rubbing the back of his head as he looks down at her.

"Not really no," she says. He frowns slightly and she relaxes, taking a step closer and reaching over to pat him on the arm. "But I'll keep you in mind next time I want to practice escaping from holds."

A hint of Zac's usual smile starts to return. "You mean it?"

"Yeah," Riven smiles, stepping back and reading herself to fight again. "You ready to try again?"

Zac mirrors her stance. "I was made ready," he says with a smile.

Riven shakes her head at the bad joke but she's chuckling about it anyway as she says, "Go," a moment later.

She's expecting him to be on her in an instant like last time, for one of his giant fists to be heading right for her head and so in spite of her lingering laugh, she's ready to dodge at a moment's notice, her whole body taut with anticipation. Except it doesn't happen. In fact, he doesn't move right away at all. After a long moment where Riven takes in his stance and notes an obvious weak point in his defence, she decides to hell with waiting and finally moves in to strike, her legs propelling her towards him faster then most people could possibly register. In an instant, he moved out of the way, one long step putting plenty of room between them. Riven quickly judges another opening in his stance and burst towards him again and again he slips just out of her reach as she's about to hit him. Over and over again, Riven closing the distance and nearly makes contact while Zac gives her the slip at the last moment, his body bending and contorting in more and more exaggerated ways as the fight goes on.

"Are you even trying to hit me?" Riven huffs out after a particularly close call where she'd nearly punched him in the gut and he'd ejected that part of his body instead before stepping back into it so that he could reabsorb it with his foot.

"No, am I supposed to be?" he says, his tone happy as usual, "Aren't you trying to hit me?"

"We should both be trying to hit each other," she says, punching for his chin and missing again.

"Uhh I'd rather not… like I said, I'm a bit out of your weight class and-"

"Just try please," Riven says, another fist failing to connect. She manages to catch his expression out of the corner of her eye and he looks worried so she adds, "I don't need you to coddle me. I'm a trained warrior; I'll be fine."

"Alright, if you're sure," he says and suddenly Riven sees a giant, green flyswatter-shaped appendage barreling at her out of the corner of her eye. She backflips out of the way just as she feels the gust of air his hand had displaced rush past her. She's barely landed on her feet before he's swinging at her again, this time trying to bring his giant flat fist down on her head. She rolls in under it and takes a swing at his gut.

He manages to dodge it easily and Riven is starting to wonder how much longer she can keep this up and if victory is even possible. She knows Zac doesn't get tired like humans do, that he doesn't have to breathe and therefore can't ever get winded so there's no way she can just wear him down. She realizes as dodges another haymaker from Zac that If she wants win or at the very least land a hit without her sword and gauntlet that she's probably going to need to be a little underhanded. Noxus had taught her that might made right and that all was fair when it came to war but she didn't believe that anymore. On the other hand, she's pretty sure that even Noxus wouldn't approve of the particular strategy she's about to attempt so that made her feel a bit better about it somehow. She dodges one attack, then two, waiting for an opening big enough for what she needs when finally, Zac gives her one. She slides in under a strike and then jumps up, wrapping her arms around his neck and then planting a firm but chaste kiss on his mouth.

In a second, Zac freezes, his arms dropping to his side like wet noodles. She runs her lips across his one more time and then lets go of his neck, dropping to the ground before sweeping his legs with her own. He drops like a very heavy balloon filled with jello and Riven jumps on top of him, straddling his chest in such a way that she can easily kiss him again, her breast pressed casually into his pecs.

"I win," Riven says, a smile just barely curving her lips.

Zac opens and closes his mouth for a moment before managing to stutter out, "Tha- tha- that wa-was cheating," his entire head currently a bright red color.

"I'm just doing what comes naturally," she says and then starts to chuckle at her own dumb joke.

Zac blinks up at her. "You… you kiss people to fight them normally?"

Riven shakes her head and kisses him again gently. "I meant kissing you, you oaf."

"Oh…. right," he blinks at her some more, "you're flirting with me. I get it now."

"We've been dating for a few months Zac, of course I'm flirting with you," she says, leaning into his soft chest as she continues to laugh.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just not sure I'm ever going to get use to it… or ya know, you," he says, meeting her eyes and smiling, "being right here and warm and kissing me." He wraps his arms around her back and holds her close. "It's all been like some sort of very long, lucid dream to be honest."

Riven feels a slight warmth growing in her cheeks and chuckles. "Pretty sure I'm real," she says leaning in to kiss him.

"Let's not pinch me, just in case," Zac says before closing the last of the distance.

His mouth is warm and Riven revels in the feeling of his smooth, soft lips on hers. A vague thought about how making out in one of the personal training rooms is probably not the best idea she's ever had flits through her mind but she ignores it in favor of continuing to make bad decisions. She faintly hears the clock tower chime and then suddenly Zac is up and on his feet, one of his arms moving under her butt to support her as he does so.

"We need to get going," Zac says, grabbing her bag and starting to walk out the door while he's still holding her. "We have reservations."

"Oh shit sorry," Riven says, feeling kinda stupid all of a sudden.

"No it's fine, don't worry about it too much." Zac smiles and then adds, "The owner feels like she owes me for taking care of some trouble she had a while back so I doubt she'll give up our booth too quickly."

"That's good atleast," she sighs and frowns a little to herself. "I guessed I'd just assumed by your lack of sweater and pants that we were doing something a bit more casual tonight."

Zac chuckles awkwardly. "Yeah about that, I might have come here right after my match instead of stopping off at my apartment to get changed."

"Oh did it go badly? Did you get hurt?" Riven's eyes skim his body, looking for any lingering signs of injury even though she knows they'd never have let him go without making sure he was in optimal shape.

"Nah, you know I'm always fine," Zac smiles, big and cocky.

Riven tilts her head at him and tries not to frown because she knows that's a lie, has actually been the one that's hurt Zac in the past but that feels like a lifetime ago and she doesn't want to argue so she lets it go.

"I… just couldn't wait to see you," he shrugs, the beginning of a blush starting to form on his cheeks.

Riven starts to blush as well and pecks him on the lips. "You're too sweet sometimes, you know that right?"

His steps falter for a moment but he keeps walking. "I'm just being honest," he shrugs, his cheeks getting even pinker.

They reach the locker rooms a moment later and that's when Riven realizes that Zac's been carrying her this entire time. She wonders with a vague sense of embarrassment how many people they'd passed in the halls while she'd been too busy making googly eyes at him to notice. "You should probably put me down now," she says quietly, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Oh… yeah." Zac sets her down and hands her her bag, turning beet red as he does it. "I'll meet you out here in a few minutes, yeah?"

Riven nods, fighting back her own urge to blush and goes to take a quick shower so she can change into some nicer clothes.

Riven bursts out of the women's locker room about ten minutes later, her hair still wet but aside from that entirely ready for a date at a nice restaurant. Zac is standing on the opposite wall, sporting a burgundy turtleneck sweater which nearly covers his big grinning mouth and a nice pair of black slacks. Riven isn't sure where Zac gets his pants but she'd bet anything that his mother knits him the sweaters.

"I thought you'd said you came right here without grabbing your date clothes?" she says, her eyes taking in his outfit and smiling.

"I did but I always keep a spare outfit in my locker just in case. Never know when you're going to need a spare set of clothes," Zac shrugs.

Riven chuckles and shakes her head. "Ummmm no offense, but in your case isn't that technically never?"

"Well yeah," Zac says, blushing slightly, "but it's like my mom always says, better safe than sorry." He closes the distance between them and with a soft smile, offers her his arm. "Ready to go?"

Riven blinks at the arm for a moment before taking it, still always surprised by Zac's chivalry in spite of how long they've been dating. The second her hand is resting on his arm, he starts walking them towards the restaurant, making sure to maintain a pace he knows Riven's shorter legs can match.

There's a quiet moment and Riven thinks over the last thing Zac said and then chuckles again. "Your mom is a mad scientist though, right?"

"More like a biochemical genius but yeah, why?"

"Well," she says between chuckles, "'better safe than sorry' doesn't sound like something a biochemical genius would say is all."

"She said it surprisingly a lot when I was still small and they didn't know everything I could do yet. She worried about me just like any other mom… right up until I took that rocket to the face without taking a scratch. Now she worries a lot less."

"Oh." Riven looks down at her feet, feeling a little embarrassed for forgetting just how normal a childhood Zac had had. "That's good at least. The not worrying I mean."

"Yeah, she's a great lady," Zac says and then seems to sense Riven's embarrassment since he switches the topic. "Did I mention yet that you look stunning this evening?" he glances down at her but keeps them walking. "Not that you don't always look great because you do; like even with dirt in your hair and sweat running down your face, you're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. Anyway, I'm just saying that the color of your tunic really brings out the gold in your eyes and it's nice."

Riven is blushing in an instant and smiling, not daring to meet Zac's eyes for fear that she'll blush even more. She always thinks he's exaggerating when he says stuff like that but at the same time, Zac is a very honest person so it's possible that at least from his perspective, it's true. "T-thank you," she mumbles out weakly after a moment, "You look great yourself. I really like that sweater." She looks up just in time to see him starting to turn the same color as the sweater in question.

"Oh geez," Zac says, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, "you really know how to embarrass a guy."

Riven chuckles and squeezes his arm, "I think there's a saying about pots and kettles that would be really appropriate here but I'll let it slide for now."

Zac laughs and they settle into an easy back and forth as they make their way to the restaurant arm and arm, smiling all the way.

When they arrive there a few minutes later, Zac is immediately recognized by the door man and ushered to the front of the line with excited hand motions and shouts of his name.

Zac looks around sheepishly as they move to the front, even turning to a rather disgruntled looking lady and saying, "I'm sorry but we do actually have reservations."

The woman huffs and is about to open her mouth and probably say something rude when the doorman interrupts her.

"Do you not know who this is?" he says, gesturing to Zac with one arm. "This is Zac, a champion of the Institute of War and a hero to this particular establishment. My, if he hadn't been here on that one faithful night-"

"It's alright, Birkan," Zac says, setting his hand on the upper arm of the doorman, "I think the lady gets the idea." Then he leans in and whispers, "Thanks for having my back though."

Birkan looks up at Zac with big eyes and nods, "Anytime." He then looks from Zac to where Riven has been quietly standing by his side this whole time and smiles. "Oh my, is this stunning lady your girlfriend, Zac?"

Zac smiles, his cheeks pinkening a little. "Yeah," he shifts his arm forward, bringing Riven to slightly in front of him, "Birkan, meet Riven. Riven, Birkan."

"Nice to meet you," Riven says, nodding her head and smiling.

"The pleasure is all mine," Birkan says, bowing slightly, "I'd always assumed Zac was exaggerating when he spoke of your fierce beauty, but it seems that he wasn't in the slightest."

Riven feels like she's blushing but she ignores it and turns to look at Zac. "Do you talk me up to everyone you meet?"

Zac looks down at her and shrugs, "It's not my fault you're great."

Riven and Birkan both start to laugh, much to Zac's chagrin and then Birkan gestures for them to follow as he leads them deeper into the restaurant and to their booth.

"What kind of food do they serve here anyway?" Riven asks, as she eyes up her menu a moment after they've both sat down and Bikan has gone back to his post at the front.

"Oh, Bilgewater cuisine," Zac says, looking at her over his menu with a smile, "You know, fish, fried vegetables, nuts, yoghurt sauces, that sort of thing."

"Ahhh okay," Riven says, eyeing up the foreign sounding dishes with a small frown. Back when she was in the military, she'd never had much choice about what she ate so having so many new options to pick from can still overwhelm her from time to time.

"Do you want me to suggest something?" Zac says, smiling gently like Riven isn't being even the tiniest bit ridiculous, "I come here a lot so I know a lot about the menu."

"That would be a big help actually," she sighs, laying down her menu so Zac can reach over and point out his suggestions.

"Well there's this one, the balık dolma which is a silver hake fish stuffed with carrots, onions and garlic or maybe you'd like this one…"

An hour later, Riven and Zac are wrapping up their lovely meal, Zac's side of the table littered with several empty plates that had once housed a variety of dishes while Riven's side only has the one.

"And then I was minding my own business," Zac says, smiling widely as he tells a story from his most recent match, "bouncing down river like I often do, when suddenly I noticed someone flying straight at me out of the jungle-"

"Are you both enjoying your meal?" Sila, their waitress, asks as she appears next to their table as if by magic.

"I loved it all but I always do," Zac says, switching topics easily, "you guys make some of the best mackerel in mustard sauce I've ever had."

"It was really good," Riven says and truly means it. Even though she's still getting used to broadening her palette, Zac's never taken her someplace where the food wasn't delicious before and tonight was no exception.

"I'm glad to hear it," Sila smiles, "Miss Elmas wanted me to tell you that we won't be bringing you a bill tonight since she'll be covering your tab for the evening."

"Oh geez, I said last time was the last time I'd let her do that, remember? You know I can't in good conscious keep letting you guys do this, right? With how much I eat, I'm going to put you all out of business in no time."

"And we'd already be closed down if not for your assistance with the armed gunmen all those months ago."

Riven looks from Sila to Zac, her eyes getting wide. Is this the event Zac's been underselling as nothing all evening?

"It really wasn't as big a thing as you guys are acting like it was. I just punched some guys and took a few bullets. No big deal," Zac says, shrugging with a genial smile.

"Bullets that would have killed me and most of the rest of the staff if you hadn't been here. Please let us pay you back, Zac. We owe you our lives," Sila says, eyes big and hands clasped in front of her.

"Alright," Zac says, shaking his head a little, "let's make a compromise; We'll order a dessert and you guys can cover that but then I get to pay for the rest of our meal. Deal?"

Sila frowns. "That's not nearly enough-"

"What about if I let you guys cover my desserts for the rest of the year? Will that be enough?"

Sila smiles, "Only if you promise to come back as often as you usually do."

"Deal," Zac says before turning his attention back to Riven. "Any idea what you'd like for dessert? I'm a big fan of the rice pudding but they also have baklava-"

"I'll grab you both and be right back with your check," Sila says before Riven can even answer, disappearing in nearly as magical a fashion as when she'd appeared.

Zac sighs. "Sorry about that. I hope you like rice pudding or nut-filled pastries. Sila means well but she can be stubborn sometimes."

"Both sound good to me," Riven says with a smile, "And I'm not sure I'd says she's any more stubborn than you. Why won't you just let them do this little favor for you?"

"If you were paying for all my meals, you'd know it isn't a little favor."

Riven lets out a little huff as she almost starts to laugh and instead just shakes her head.

"Also, you know I didn't get into hero work for the benefits; I'm just… doing what I was made to do," he shrugs, "It's no big deal."

Riven reaches out and sets her hand on top of where his has been fidgeting on the table. "You give yourself too little credit." She meets his eyes and smiles. "Who you are and what you do are both choices you made a long time ago, not some part of you that came preassigned like you always act like they are. I…" she looks down and bites her lower lip before looking back up at him, "really admire that about you. It makes me feel like I really can choose a different path even after all that I've done wrong."

"Of course you can, Riven," Zac says, shifting his hand around so that it's now holding her hand in its warm, firm grip. "I know I say you're beautiful a lot but one of my favorite things about you, even back when we were barely friends was your determination to turn you life around. You could have stayed in Noxus and had an easier life but you saw that what they were doing was wrong and you couldn't stand by and help them anymore. I think you're the strongest person I know." He meets her eyes and smiles.

"Zac," Riven says, tears she's determined not to shed starting to well up in her eyes as she squeezes his hand. She doesn't want to talk about this, doesn't know what to say except that he's wrong (like he is every time he brings this up) so she follows the warm feeling curling in her gut instead and leans in to kiss him. There's a whole table between them but that doesn't really matter when it comes to kissing Zac so soon she feels his smooth lips on hers, warm and inviting. A single tear starts to roll down her cheek but she ignores it, running her lips along his just as she hears a cough from the side of their table.

Zac jerks away in an instant, his face quickly shifting to a bright red color. Riven starts to blush as well, blinking her eyes in hopes of clearing the tears away.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt but I have your desserts," Sila says, her eyes looking anywhere but at them as she holds her tray out in front of herself. She sets the desserts and Zac's bill down in one fluid motion and then turns to go, saying, "Whenever you're ready, just bring the bill up to the front and we'll pay you out," before snuffing out one of the candles and disappearing.

Riven tilts her head in confusion at Sila's retreating back but then realizes that their already secluded corner of the restaurant is now even darker and lets out a little "Oh" as what Sila really meant starts to sink in.

Zac seems to have figured it out too because he puts his face in his free hand and shakes his head. "Oh jeez."

They ignore Sila's suggestion, both of them much too embrassed to risk kissing in public again and instead focus on their desserts. Riven ends up liking both of them just like she'd suspected, though the Baklava ends up being her favorite. Once they finish their desserts and pay their bill (Zac sneaks a big tip under one of the burnt out candles on their table), they start to walk home, the cool night air doing wonders for their still lingering blushes. Riven reaches out for Zac's hand and smiling, he takes it.

It takes about fifteen minutes to walk from the restaurant to Riven's apartment. They pass the time trading stories about good fights they've each been in as they often do and while Riven conspicuously never talks about her time with Noxus, Zac also always seems to know not to push her to do it either so it always ends up being a great way to pass the time. Most of Zac's "good" fight stories are actually just times something strange and vaguely funny happened to him in the middle of a fight but even though Riven has heard many of them before, she still chuckles at them if only because of Zac's killer delivery.

They hold hands the whole way, Riven periodically rubbing her thumb against his smooth skin as they talk. As they get closer and closer to her apartment, Riven realizes that she doesn't want him to go. Her stomach flips, the idea of inviting Zac in to her apartment for the night rushing into her mind and making her blush. Is that too forward? Will I scare him off? She thinks back, trying to figure out what Zac thinks about sex and frowns. He's never pushed for anything like that, has barely even groped her the times they've been making out and she's been running her hands all along him like crazy. But then again, Zac is basically a gentleman to his core, possibly even to the point where he's being self defeatist. Maybe Riven just needs to give him a little push? She thinks back on the kisses from this evening, imagines how it would feel to have him touching more of her, his large, warm hands on her breasts, working their way down to… other regions and she blushes even harder.

Don't get ahead of yourself, Riven, she scolds herself internally, Just because I invite him in doesn't mean he going to agree to it… or that we'll even have sex if he does. She looks up at him, right in the middle of telling a story she's heard before and oblivious to the thoughts going through her head and sighs. If she's being completely honest with herself, it doesn't really matter if Zac isn't interested in sex at all since just the idea of spending the night cuddling with him sounds wonderful all on it's own. It's been almost a year since she was always on the run, directionless and homeless but even now, she still doesn't always sleep the best. She has sleepless nights where she paces her apartment and works her punching bag until it falls down and nights were she wakes up tied up in her sheets, a cold sweat clinging to her body and the lingering screams of the dead ringing in her ears. She's never had a chance to sleep next to Zac before but he makes everything better, knows just how to make her laugh and smile so it follows to her that just sleeping next to him would make her sleep better too; that's just how Zac is.

They reach her door before she even realizes it, the feeling of Zac taking his hand away shaking her out of her thoughts. He's looking at her and standing just a few feet away, a shy expression creeping across his face.

"I had a really great time," Riven says, starting to dig in her purse for her keys as she keeps staring at Zac and smiling.

Zac smiles back. "Me too." He shifts slightly forward, shrinking as he does.

"We should do it again sometime." Riven gives up on finding her keys for the moment and takes a step closer to him instead, "I think I might really like Bilgewater food."

"That's… good to hear," Zac says, shrinking down more as he leans even closer. "I'll have to tell… Miss Elmas next time I see her."

"Yeah," Riven says, putting a hand on his chest and shifting up on to her tiptoes. "You do that," she breathes just before running her lips across his. In an instant, he's lifting her up, pulling her closer to his lips and chest as he returns the kiss. She lets out a happy noise and wraps her arms around his neck, kissing him back harder than before. She remembers vaguely that there was a reason they weren't supposed to keep kissing in public like this (even if she doesn't know what it was right now) and then she remembers that she's already thought of a solution to that problem and that it is only about a foot away at the moment.

"Zac," she huffs out, pulling her face back for a moment, "Do you want to come in?"

Zac blinks at her. "Come in? You mean like come in come in?"

"Yeah but only if you want to… come in like that," she smiles shyly, "it can also just be so we don't keep making out in the hall too."

"Oh," Zac says, looking around them like he's just remember where they are, "yeah, good idea."

He sighs and sets her down.

Riven frowns slightly, mourning the loss of his warm arms on her body as she turns her attention towards her purse and finding her keys. After an awkward moment where she starts to wonder if it's possible that she'd left them back at the gym, she finds them with happy jingle. She opens her door and steps inside, glad to see that it's just as barren and relatively clean as normal. Zac is about to follow her when he pauses on the precipice, nerves readable in all his body language.

"You don't have to," Riven says, walking back towards the door, "I don't want to pressure you."

Zac grimaces and shrinks before stepping through the doorframe and closing the door behind him, "I've been in your apartment before, Riven, it's no big deal." He smiles, but he still mostly looks nervous as he returns to his normal height. "So where were we?" He meets her eyes, going for confident and mostly failing. "Oh right," he says, closing the rest of the gap between them before picking her up, "Just about here, yeah?"

Riven wraps her arms around his neck but doesn't lean in to kiss him. "You know we don't have to do anything you don't want to do, right?"

Zac lets out a little sigh. "I know, and I'm still," he glances down, avoiding her eyes, "thinking about the rest of your offer but I know right now that I really want to keep kissing you so yeah… is that alright?" He looks up at her with big yellow eyes, somehow still worried she'll reject him after all the times she's already said she'd be happy with whatever he was comfortable with.

"Of course," she says, leaning her forehead into his.

He smiles and then closes the gap.

Half an hour later, they're on her couch, Riven straddling Zac's lap as they make out. This isn't the first time they've done this exactly but this is the first time Riven's implied that things could go further if Zac wants them too and it's obvious that it's making him nervous. He'll be kissing her back, passionate and warm, his hands running up and down her back when suddenly he'll just pause for a second, pulling away to catch his breath like he suddenly needs to breathe. He's leaning back in to kiss her again after his most recent one but Riven stops him, putting her hands on his cheeks and running her thumbs along them. "Are you alright?"

Zac pushes his face into one of her hands and sighs. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just," he looks at her and seems to melt a little, "it's not bad, I promise but I think we need to talk and I'm nervous so I'm just going to… say it alright?"

"Go for it," Riven says, taking her hands off his face and leaning back, "I'm listening."

"You know if we do this, it's going to be really… weird, right?" Riven goes to cut him off but he keeps talking, "Like I'm not… human and I don't have the proper… equipment for… sex and-"

Riven puts her hand on his mouth and shakes her head. "Oh my I'm so shocked," she says in a total deadpan, "why did no one tell me that my giant green flexible boyfriend who doesn't normally wear pants isn't human?" She looks at him and rolls her eyes. "Really?"

Zac shifts his mouth to the side of her hand and starts talking again, "I'm being serious, this is important-"

"So am I," Riven says, moving her hand from the middle of his face to one of his cheeks. "Do you really think I don't know all of this? That I've somehow known you for eight months without picking any of that up?"

"Well no-" Zac starts to say but Riven cuts him off.

"Or do you just think I'm… not really attracted to you after all this time?" she say, her expression falling, "Oh Zac…"

"I wouldn't say that exactly," Zac shakes his head before shrugging, "more like you… put up with it because you think I'm a super great guy?"

Riven shakes her head, looks into his eyes and sighs. "I thought I'd been clear in the past but obviously I haven't so I'm going to try to say this as straightforward as I can. I like you, yes but I'm also really attracted to you. I like your smile because it's so earnest and kind. I like your broad shoulders and your big, strong hands. You have an amazingly attractive voice and you're also a really pretty color of green." She rubs her thumb on his already red cheeks as they continue to darken. "And yeah, I might have only noticed that I like all this stuff about you because I really like who you are but I also had never really noticed anyone else before you either so…"

Zac is wide eyed and beet red as he says, "Really? Like not even someone like… Talon or maybe even Kat? Just… me?"

"Yes," Riven shakes her head, wishing Zac had picked other people to mention but knowing he didn't mean any harm by it. "I mean I guess I've always known objectively that both them are considered attractive but before I joined the League," she looks down and explicitly avoids mentioning Noxus, "things like that just never mattered to me." She looks at him and he still looks off balance so she grabs one of his hands and puts it over her heart. "Here let me show you something. You can feel my heartbeat right?"

"Yeah," Zac says, pressing his hand to her chest gently, "It's… nice. What about it?"

"You'll see in just a moment, just leave your hand there and kiss me, alright?"

"Alright," Zac says, still looking at her like she's a bit crazy as he leans in to kiss her.

His lips graze hers and immediately all the lingering passion from all their earlier kisses comes rushing back to her, making her lean into him and try to deepen the kiss. He opens his mouth and she runs her tongue along his bottom lips before letting out a groan. He slides his tongue into her mouth and she pushes her body closer to his, wedging his arm between them.

"Wait, wait," Zac says, pulling away and looking at her with concern. "Your heart rate is speeding up a lot are you oka-" he cuts himself off, a look of realization dawning on his face. "Oh that's what you're trying to show me, right? That I… make your heart race, just like in all the cliches?"

Riven huffs out a laugh, her breathing still a bit uneven from the kissing. "Yeah, there's a reason that's a romantic cliche and that's because human bodies really do respond like that." She smiles and glances downs, biting her bottom lip. "You do this to me all the time if I'm being honest. I'll be having a perfectly normal day and then I'll see you and my heart's in my throat and I'm smiling like an idiot. I'd thought I was being obvious this whole time but I guess not," she smiles wistfully at him, "Sorry."

Zac looks at where his hand is pressed her chest and smiles back, pressing just slightly harder as he does so. "Don't apologize, It's more a… me doubting myself thing than a you being secretive about your feelings thing, really." He pauses for a moment and then he adds, "I know what I am," he says, placing his other hand on his own chest, "and most of the time I'm fine with it. It makes me strong, lets me protect people and makes it so I can reach things on the highest shelves without ever needing a ladder." Riven chuckles and Zac continues, "But just because I'm okay with me doesn't mean I expect other people to feel the same way, especially someone as talented and beautiful as you." She opens her mouth to interrupt and he talks over her, "I know now that I'm being stupid but that doesn't mean I can just stop feeling really self conscious about how different I am than you, alright?"

"Okay," Riven nods.

"So that's why I'm going to ask you again," Zac looks into her eyes, expression serious, "Are you sure you want to try and do this?"

"Yeah," Riven blushes, "I've never wanted to do this with someone more in my life."

"Wow," Zac says, blinking a little, "you're really not pulling your punches anymore are you?"

"I just want to make sure I'm perfectly clear is all. No more ambiguity." Riven smiles.

"Well that's definitely working," he swallows, looking nervous. "There is absolutely no way I could misinterpret that." He fidgets for a moment and then smiles shyly, "Okay, so how are we going to do this? I do know a bit of the basics from a really embarrassing chat I had with my folks a few years back but-"

"Wait a minute," Riven says, setting her hand on his shoulder, "I have one last thing I need to ask you first."

"Okay?" Zac squints at her, "go for it."

"You've been being extra careful to double check that I'm okay with this but you've never told me whether this is something you want or not. You know that we don't need to have sex right?"

"I know," he nods, "You've said that a few times. And I know I seem really nervous which just makes it seem like I'm not interested but that's not true."

"Okay," Riven says, "I'm listening."

"Well, I'm not human," he pauses and gestures between them, "which I know you already know but I'm just mentioning it again because it means that I don't have a lot of stuff humans generally have, like in this case a natural urge to procreate or the ability to… come in any way at all." He blushes but he keeps talking, "My parents designed me to be a weapon and so stuff like that just wasn't part of the original design; it wouldn't have made sense. That said, I've spent basically my whole life stretching the limits of what I was made to do… and so while I'm pretty sure that I'm still not interested in sex generally and that what I'm feeling might not even be quite the same thing really, I do know that I want to try and do this with you."

Riven smiles, a warm feeling curling in her gut at his words. "Well then, let's just take this slow and see how it turns out."

"Yeah that sounds good," Zac says, "Where do you want to start?"

"Well," Riven pauses, tapping her face with her index finger in thought, "Maybe we should move this to the bedroom so there is a bit more room to maneuver?"

"Good yeah," Zac says, picking her up with ease and carrying her the short distance to her own bedroom. He looks around her bedroom as if it will contain answers and then at her once it becomes obvious that it doesn't. "Okay, now what?"

Riven feels the corners of her lips turn up but she tries not to chuckle about how Zac is still just holding her like this is a perfectly normal thing to do. "We both should probably be wearing less clothes," she looks at him and bites her bottom lip to keep from laughing, "but you will probably have to set me down first."

"Right," Zac says, blushing and setting her down gently, "I don't know why I keep doing that."

"I like it," Riven looks up at him and sets a hand on his chest, "I like being that close to you. But you do do it an awful lot."

"I think you're just so light and I like feeling you next to me so much I just don't think about it." He rubs the back of his head and smiles down at her, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, I like it, remember?" she grins up at him and then reaches down to pull off her tunic without another word.

"Wait," Zac says, eyes wide, one hand set on top of hers to keep her from stripping, "you're just going to like… strip down? Just like that?"

"Is that not okay? I was kinda hoping for," she looks up at him and blushes, "direct contact between me and you but we can just keep our clothes on if that's more comfortable for you."

"No, I think that sounds," he takes in a big breath and then lets it out, "great. Really great actually. I just thought you said we were taking this slow and that doesn't seem very slow to me is all." He looks at her and smiles nervously.

"That's fair. Sorry if I seem like I'm rushing things. All my previous experiences were nothing like this to be honest."

His eyebrow ridges shift up slightly. "Oh so you've done this before?"

There's no judgement in his tone but Riven still feels a bit self conscious anyway. He does deserve to know though so she sighs and tells him. "Yeah, back when I was," she pauses, not really wanting to mention Noxus right now, "in the military, me and my fellow officers would sometimes do this to just blow off steam. Like I said though, it wasn't anything like this."

"Because they weren't nervous wrecks who have almost no idea what they're doing?" Zac snaps back.

Riven shakes her head, starting to laugh a little despite her best efforts not to. "No, it was just purely a physical thing, almost like sparring. It didn't mean anything to me. This," she looks up at him and smiles, "really does though."

"Oh," his eyes soften as he blushes a bit, "right. I feel the same way, not that I've done this before but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I get it." she smiles, looking him up and down when an idea strikes her. "I've got it: You take off your sweater and I'll take off my tunic and then the same for the pants. It will be like a trade."

"That is not really a fair trade at all," Zac says, looking at her nervously. "You've literally already seen everything that's going on beneath this outfit and I'm pretty sure you're wearing a lot more than me."

"Yeah," Riven shrugs, "but this is just a good way to start, especially because you're so nervous. Sound good?"

Zac nods and takes off his sweater. "Your turn."

Riven pulls off her tunic and throws it on the ground. When she looks at Zac, he's blushing and staring at her. "Zac," she says gently.

"Right," he says, blinking for a second before stepping out of his pants and setting them aside.

Zac is right that she's seen him without clothes more times than she's seen him in them but at the same time, the knowledge that soon she's going to get to touch all of her skin to all of his makes the sight a slightly more erotic one than normal. She bites her bottom lip, her cheeks heating up as she slides out of her leggings. She's a bit nervous as she looks up at Zac but he's just standing there with about the same expression as before, his mouth hanging open. "See no big deal, right?" she smiles.

Zac just keeps looking at her so she sets a hand on his arm. "Sorry," he shakes his head, "you're just so… wow." He blinks, his eyes looking her up and down, "Do your bra and… underwear match? That's really cute."

"Yeah, I," she pauses, embarrassed to be admitting this, "generally do that for our dates unless we're going to play sports or something."

"Oh," Zac says and it's obvious he's thinking back to all their previous dates and imaging what her possible matching underwear sets had looks like for each of them.

Riven jumps up and wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso before leaning in and kissing him. "I think we should get on the bed now," she smiles.

"Yeah, sorry," Zac says, taking one steps to her bed before laying himself down on it with Riven still perched on his upper chest.

"You don't need to apologize," she says, rubbing her nose against the middle of his face. "You're just nervous and that's fine. If you want to stop, we still can."

"No," Zac shakes his head, "I'm just a little overwhelmed but wow… you're just wow. I kinda want to touch like all of you to be honest."

Riven blushes darkly, feeling a warm pulse start to grow in her groin. "That sounds perfect," she says, pushing her breasts into his chest and kissing him again.

He returns the kiss and it's more like when they were sparring or the hall earlier, warm and eager with none of his recent hesitance. She feels one of his large hands run down her back and to her butt before squeezing it gently. She lets out a squeak and then grinds her hips down into his chest without really meaning to.

"That was alright, right?" Zac mumbles out between kisses.

"I'll tell you if it's not, promise," she huffs out, her breath already getting a bit ragged.

"Good," Zac says, running his tongue along her bottom lip, "the last thing I want to do is hurt you."

Riven shudders. "I know," she says, licking her way into his mouth.

He lets out a groan and rubs his other hand into her upper back, pressing her more firmly into his chest. She feels the malleable but firm texture of his body contour around her still clothed breasts before squeezing them gently. She moans.

"Was that right? What do you need me to do?" he says, voice low and eyes hooded.

"It was great but we should take off my bra if you're going to keep doing that."

She starts to reach around to unhook her bra when Zac says, "Wait, what? What about your bra?" so she stops what she's doing and looks at him.

"You're," she pauses for a second and takes a breath, "squeezing my breast, with your chest. You didn't know?"

"No," he says, looking a bit embarrassed, "I guess I got carried away."

Riven shakes her head and kisses him, "It's not carried away if I like it. I just know you're a bit shy about me being naked so I wanted to warn you before I took anything more off, okay?"

"Thanks," Zac kisses her back for a moment and then breaks away to smile shyly. "Can I watch you… take it off, that is?"

"Yeah," Riven says, running her lips along his once, twice before she pulls back and sits upright. She reaches around behind herself and unhooks her bra with ease before throwing it to the floor.

Zac eyes her up, licking his lips as he does so. "Would it be okay if I touched them… with my mouth?"

"Of course," she smiles, "I wasn't lying when I said you touching me everywhere would be perfect."

"Geez," Zac says, looking away from her and staring at the ceiling for a moment, "you're killing me, you know that right?"

Riven chuckles. "I'm sure you'll recover."

"I do always bounce back," he says, sitting up so he's now eye level with her breasts and grinning.

Riven puts a hand over her mouth as she starts to laugh. "Zac please don't," she mutters out between chuckles.

"What," he smiles, "is laughing bad for sex or something?"

"I wouldn't think so," Riven laughs, "but if you make me laugh too hard," she snorts, "I won't be able to breath."

"Ah, guess I just need to distract you before the laughing gets out of hand then," he says before very gently nibbling at one of her nipples.

She gasps, her laughter coming to an abrupt halt and then glares down at him.

"Did I do it wrong?" Zac asks, obviously nervous.

Riven considers sassing him about his horrible timing but decides pretty quickly that it's a hopeless battle; Zac is Zac afterall. "No," she says, pushing her breast towards his mouth, "you should do a lot more of that actually."

Zac opens his mouth a bit wider, wrapping his lips around most of one breast and sucking on it for a moment before flicking her nipple with his tongue.

Riven throws back her head and lets out a groan. Zac takes more of her breast into his mouth, continuing to suck as he brings up one of his hands up to start playing with the other. She grinds her still clothed vulva against his chest without really meaning to again, the warm heat of her stomach and groin radiating through her body. Her eyes go wide for a second when she feels a bite on the nipple of the breast he's still sucking on but she decides quickly that it felt amazing so there was no reason to worry about it.

A moment later, he's taking his mouth off her breast, grinning and saying, "Riven… your skin's amazing; you taste like lilacs and salt."

Riven chuckles, still rubbing her groin against him a little as she talks. "That's a combination of my soap and sweat pretty sure."

"Mmmm," Zac says, licking her nipple. She bucks her hips against him harder, and he looks down at her panties. "Oh you're wet. That means," he cocks his head as he thinks, "you're aroused enough for internal stimulation if I remember correctly."

"Yeah," she pants, "though I have been for awhile."

Zac looks up at her and frowns, "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"You were doing such a good job with just my breast," she shrugs, "I didn't want to distract you."

Zac shakes his head. "Well I'll have you know I'm an excellent multitasker so I'm sure I can do both this and whatever else you need me to do too if you just tell me what it is."

Riven bites her bottom lip, all of her skin warm and probably slightly pink. Just tell him what you want Riven, now is no time to get shy. "I really want to feel you… in me."

Zac gulps. "Alright, we should probably get rid of those cute panties then." He starts to move and then pauses, "Is it alright if I flip us over so I can get a better look at what I'm doing?"

"Yeah," she nods.

Zac flips them over in one easy motion so that Riven's now on the bottom and he is braced over her. Once settled there, she goes to take off her underwear but Zac reaches out with one hand to stop her. "Can I do that actually? I know that maybe sounds weird-"

"It doesn't at all," Riven shakes her head and smiles, "go for it."

Riven watches as Zac shifts so he's down near her legs and then careful slided his fingers under the band of her underwear before pulling them slowly off. When he finally gets them off, he looks up at her from around her feet and sighs, eyes soft and cheeks pink. "You're so beautiful you know that right?"

Riven feels his eyes on her and squeezes her thighs together shyly. "Zac, please."

He leans forward and kisses her on the thigh which causes her to shudder. "Can't blame me for just telling the truth," he says, kissing closer to where her thighs are pressed together and sliding a hand in between them when she shifts in response. His big hand on her thigh makes her shudder and ache to spread them wider so she does. Zac looks up into her vulva and Riven blushes even darker under his scrutiny. "This," he says, very gently pushing his finger against her clitoris, "is your clit right?"

Riven groans, "y-yeah."

"Ohhh okay," he says, rubbing his finger back and forth just slightly as he talks, "Do you want me to play with it as well while I'm… in you?"

Riven whines a little, heat pulsing through her body at each brush. "Yeah," she finally manages to huff out a moment later, even though she's pretty sure he knew her answer anyway without her saying it.

"Alright, I'm going to put my finger in you now okay?"

Riven nods, anticipation holding her body tight as she watches one firm finger enter her. His smooth skin feels nice where it's touching her but a part of her had assumed that his normal finger size would feel… larger.

"Wow, you're really warm in here," he smiles up at her, still playing gently with her clit with his other finger.

"Did you… make your finger smaller than normal?" she huffs out instead of responding to his statement.

"I just didn't want to go too large," he smiles sheepishly, "I don't have any idea how much room you have in there."

"It's okay," she smiles, her eyes closing a little with each brush, "Your normal sized fingers will be more than fine though."

Zac nods. A moment later, she lets out a cry as something that feels like a firm ball shifts through her entrance and up into her.

"What was that?" Riven says just as Zac says, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she says once she realizes he's not going to answer her question until he knows the answer to his. "In fact I'm way better than fine. What were you just doing?"

"Oh, I was just making my finger bigger by moving more of my goo into it," he pauses and does it again. Riven shudders and pushes herself up into his still rubbing finger. "Like that. I can keep doing it but I'm not sure how much with actually fit in you."

"It's not that I need you to keep making your finger larger," she gasps as he does it again, "more that I need you to keep shifting b-back," she stutters as he does it a fourth time, "and forth through my entrance."

"Got it," Zac says, brushing her clit just as he pulls a ball of goo slowly out of her. The combination of the sensations is intense, sending shudders through her body and making her scream but she still doesn't come. "Are you getting close? What more do you need?"

"Just curl your finger forwar-" she gasps and cuts herself off as she feels the jolt of him tapping on her g-spot for the first time. "Touch my clit a bit h-harder," she stutters as he does just that. "And keep doing," she groans as he pushes a ball back into her, "exactly that." She closes her eyes, feeling the growing pressure rise up from her groin and spread through her body until with a tap on her g-spot and one last ball being pushed into her, she comes, loud and hard.

Zac starts to remove his hand and Riven pushes herself back onto his finger, just managing to moan, "Keep moving," as she slides herself up and down his fingers. He listens to her, working the balls in and out of her as he keeps touching her clit and she just keeps coming, surprised that they'd managed to get her this wound up before she'd came. After what feels like forever but was probably just a few minutes, Riven mumbles for him to stop, the sensation of him touching her clit now more than she can stand.

Zac slides his finger out of her slowly, and she groans at the loss of it's large, firm presence. She feels him pressing light kisses to her skin as he slowly works his way from between her still shuddering thighs and up until he is laying beside her.

"Was that good?" He says, a minute later, his hand cupping one of her cheeks.

"That was the best orgasm of my life," she mumbles and blinks at him. As she talks, she realizes just how close he really is and shifts herself until most of her skin is touching his and her head is pressed into his shoulder. Zac seems to notice her attempt to get closer to him and picks her up, setting her down in the middle of his chest and resting one large hand on the small of her back.

"Really?" Zac says, her location on his chest making his voice rumble through her as he speaks, "You're not just saying that because you like me or something?"

Riven shakes her head and then realizes that he probably can't really tell how she's moving her head when she's pressed against his chest like that so she props herself up and says, "Zac, please. I know you don't have experience with sex and stuff but what do I look like to you right now?"

"Beautiful? Pleasantly pink all over?" Zac says as Riven blushes more and frowns at him. "Oh, are you talking about how you look super sleepy right now?" he chuckles, "Yeah I might have noticed that a bit too."

Riven sticks her tongue out at Zac then says, "Well the reason I'm this tired is because I came so hard." She decides that propping herself up is a bit more effort than she wants to keep doing at the moment and lets go, smacking her face into his chest with a 'thwack'.

He laughs and his chest shakes with it.

"You were amazing," Riven says, rubbing her cheek against his chest, "I really mean it."

"I'm… glad to hear that," Zac says, rubbing little circles into her back. "In fact, I don't think I can tell you how just stupidly happy I am right now. Feeling you and watching you come like that," he sighs, "wow."

Riven's blushing and smiling when a thought suddenly occurs to her. She pops back up to look at him and grins mischievously. "Maybe I can make you even happier still though," she says before licking his chest while keeping her eyes trained on his face.

Zac lets out a little moan and then looks down at her with wide eyes. "W-what? D-don't you remember the whole 'not actually able to come' thing I said earlier?"

"I do," she says, "but just because you can't come doesn't mean you can't enjoy me doing things for you, right? You seemed to like that."

Zac narrows his eyes and then sighs. "I did, you're right. I, ummm… liked that a lot actually." He pauses for a moment and then smiles down at her. "I just don't think either of us is awake enough to really give that a good try right now. You still seem pretty tired to me and I'm actually really worn out from my match earlier. If I'm being honest, all I want right now is to fall asleep with you in my arms. Is that alright?"

"Of course," Riven smiles as she feels a wave of affection wash over her. "I just wanted to help you feel good after all that you did for me and I got carried away."

"I wouldn't put it like that," he shakes his head, "more like you're being a wonderful, thoughtful girlfriend and I'm just too tired to take you up on your offer. Besides," he wraps both his arms around her back and squeezes her gently, "you're already making me feel plenty good just like this."

"You're.. too sweet," Riven says with a yawn, blushing as she pushes her face into his chest and closes her eyes. The moment she does, exhaustion sweeps over her. How had she not realized just how tired she was?

"I'm just being honest," he says, pulling a blanket off the floor and over them before tucking it in around Riven. "Now sleep."

"Night, Zac," she yawns, rubbing her face against his chest one last time as she starts to drift off.

It's quiet for awhile and Riven thinks hazily that maybe Zac's already fallen asleep too when she feels him kiss the top of her head and whisper into her hair, "I love you, Riven. Sleep well."

And Riven is too tired to realize that what he's just said is a big deal and that maybe under other circumstances she might be a little panicked about it so she just says, "Love you too," like it's the most natural thing in the world before finally drifting off to sleep.


End file.
